Lam hits back at Fitzpatrick over Warrington clean sweep claims

WIGAN coach Adrian Lam says his side will use brash comments by Warrington chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick as motivation in Thursday’s Super League opener.

Fitzpatrick expects the Wolves to beat Wigan every time they play them in 2020 – having been disappointed by losing once last year.

“We played them four times in 2019 and it was very disappointing that we didn’t beat them four times,” said Fitzpatrick. “I expect us to complete a clean sweep against them this year with our recruitment and the quality of our squad.”

Fitzpatrick also claimed new signing Anthony Gelling chose Warrington over Wigan because of their superior squad, which Warriors chairman Ian

“complete lie.”

Now Lam (above) says his team will be fired up by the war of words as they bid to lay down an early marker for the new Super League campaign.

Asked about Fitzpatrick’s comments, Lam said: “They were a bit cheeky, weren’t they? Absolutely it’s motivation for us.

“It’s a tough thing to do to any club to have a clean sweep.

“He’s obviously thinking confidently about his squad, but my squad think differently and will respond to that accordingly.

“We’ve only played probably half a friendly as a team and may be a little bit underdone in the first couple of weeks, but we’ve done enough to ensure we can win in round one.”

Warrington will be missing injured marquee signing Gareth Widdop on Thursday, with young full-back Matty Ashton pressing his claims for a start.

Lenagan called a